The federal government can do a lot to encourage the growth of impact investing and social enterprise.

That, basically, is the conclusion of Private Capital, Public Good, a report just released at the White House from a group of A-list impact investing and social enterprise honchos.

To step back–A year ago, after the G8 Social Impact Investment Forum met in London, a group was formed to focus on domestic policy in the U.S. Called the U.S. National Advisory Board (NAB), the 27-member enterprise includes everyone from Matt Bannick of the Omidyar Network (he’s co-chair) to Andrew Kassoy of B Lab.

Last week, NAM announced its recommendations for steps the federal government should take.

Social impact bond (SIB) is the next big thing in public-private partnerships, and could rewrite the rules of the game when it comes to government-funded social services. Essentially, it’s a financial instrument that enables government to partner with private investors to pay for social service programs.

SIBs give the corporate world a financial stake in the well-being of the most vulnerable citizens. Perhaps most crucially, they provide the government a cushion against financial losses, allowing normally hamstrung taxpayer-funded agencies to take risks and innovate. Journalist Esha Chhabra gets answers to the difficult questions at the heart of this potentially paradigm-changing tool.